It’s Thursday, so I’ve got another travel post for you today! If you are new to my blog, let me tell you what this series is about! Last summer, my good friend Ashley and I went on a 35-day, 25-state cross country road trip. It was incredible! On Thursdays I share either some travel tips or another part of our trip. Today I’ve got our time in Colorado Springs to share with you! If you want to read part 2, click here!

After we left our bestie, Eleanor, in Kansas, we made our way to Colorado Springs. As I’ve mentioned before, we did a lot of “couch surfing” on this trip. We found people we knew or our parents knew near the places we wanted to visit and were able to stay with them instead of spending our whole budget on hotels! Meeting new people and hearing a little bit of their stories ended up being our favorite part of the trip. We loved it even more than sightseeing!

This particular night of the trip we were staying with a family that Ashley’s dad knew in Colorado Springs. This sweet family ended up being one of our favorite hosts of the whole trip. They had a sweet little girl and one on the way, and they invited their friend and his dog over for dinner, and they made us the best tacos. We LOVED chatting with them and getting to know them and their ministry in Colorado Springs.

You know that old saying, “never discuss politics or religion in polite company?” We didn’t listen to it. We talked about everything under the sun and really enjoyed meeting fellow believers living out God’s call in a place so far away from our home. I loved that we were able to meet this sweet family and get a little peek into their lives. We are so grateful for their hospitality!

Okay, on to the photos!!

Garden of the Gods

Our time in Colorado Springs started with a visit to Garden of the Gods. We really enjoyed all of the beautiful scenery. We talked about it later though and we are so glad that we began our trip with this instead of having it in the middle or at the end. As far as the most interesting things we saw on our trip, Garden of the Gods is probably at the bottom of our list.

Our expectations for it were really high and we were surprised when it was just a park with some walkways. Don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous! But I think we were expecting there to be more rock formations or for it to be bigger with more to do. Even still, the photos we got were awesome, and I loved it. It was at this moment though that we decided to have low expectations for everything else on our trip so that our expectations would always be exceeded!

The “Kissing Camels”

Helen Hunt Falls & Seven Bridges

We spent about an hour and a half at Garden of the Gods and then did a couple of hikes in Colorado Springs that our hosts recommended to us. We did Helen Hunt Falls and the Seven Bridges Trail. Helen Hunt Falls was just a 1/3 mile hike to a waterfall, but the views were amazing! We then made our way to the Seven Bridges Trail, which was a 3 mile loop that took us to seven bridges over little creeks. It was fun counting our way to all of the bridges and sticking our toes in the cool water!

Everywhere you looked there was a new vista. I loved the pine trees so much. They look so much different than the pines in South Carolina! I only had my cell phone for this hike, so this is the best photo I got.

The wildflowers everywhere added to the beauty!

They love John Denver in Colorado

After our time in Colorado Springs, we didn’t have a definite plan for the day, so we stopped for lunch at a little place called Salsa Latina. We loved it because we could tell it’s where the locals ate! It was a family-owned business, and everyone that came in seemed to know everyone else. We got to sit and talk with the owner for a little bit while he was on his break. He was so funny and friendly!

Red Rocks Park

After our late lunch we made our way towards Denver. We stopped at Red Rocks Park because we wanted to see the Red Rocks Amphitheater, but there was a concert going on! We didn’t get to see inside it, but we did explore some of the trails around the park.

Here we also saw our first deer sighting of the trip!

On our way to Denver…

We loved Colorado Springs and can’t wait to go back!! We didn’t get to go up Pikes Peak because it was foggy and damp that day, so that’s on our list for next time!

Happy Traveling,

– Christi